The comments posted in this blog are for general informational purposes only. They are not to be considered as legal advice, and they do not establish an attorney-client relationship. For legal advice regarding your specific situation, please consult your attorney.

• Allows employers to offer employees a choice between cash wages and comp time for overtime hours worked. Employees who want to receive cash wages would continue to do so.

• Protects employees by requiring the employer and the employee to complete a written agreement to use comp time, entered into knowingly and voluntarily by the employee.

• Retains all existing employee protections in current law, including the 40 hour work week and how overtime compensation is accrued. The bill adds additional safeguards for workers to ensure the choice and use of comp time are truly voluntary.

• Allows employees to accrue up to 160 hours of comp time each year. An employer would be required to pay cash wages for any unused time at the end of the year. Workers are free to ‘cash out’ their accrued comp time whenever they choose to do so.

What you need to know: Despite the tremendous changes that have taken place in society — and particularly in the workplace — over the last 75 years, the FLSA has not been substantially revised since it was passed in 1938. It’s time for a change. By removing the comp time prohibition, the Working Families Flexibility Act would give employers and workers a much-needed tool for creating the flexible workplaces that are necessary to meet the needs of today’s American families. Contact your congressional delegation to express your views on this proposed change.

The comments posted in this blog are for general informational purposes only. They are not to be considered as legal advice, and they do not establish an attorney-client relationship. For legal advice regarding your specific situation, please consult your attorney.

Some days won’t end ever and some days pass on by.
I’ll be working here forever, at least until I die.
Dammed if you do, damned if you don’t
I’m supposed to get a raise next week, you know damn well I won’t.

Sometimes it feels like we’ll be working for forever. When it does, we look for any chance to get away, especially when we have some paid time off coming. And sometimes we need and value the time off more than the paycheck itself.

So, why not reward employees who work a bit of overtime by giving them paid time off in lieu of overtime pay? It’s a great concept: if employees work overtime (that is, more than forty hours in a workweek under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act), they “bank” the extra hours and use them like extra vacation or other paid time off in the future. Although it seems like a great concept, it’s prohibited by the FLSA unless the employer is a public agency that is a state, a political subdivision of a state, or an interstate governmental agency.

What you need to know: There are ways for private sector employers to provide a comp time benefit for exempt employees (that is, employees who are not covered by the FLSA), but such programs must be carefully written so as to not jeopardize their exempt status. More importantly, comp time cannot be offered as an alternative to overtime pay to non-exempt private sector employees. Public agencies may, however, offer comp time to non-exempt employees.

The comments posted in this blog are for general informational purposes only. They are not to be considered as legal advice, and they do not establish an attorney-client relationship. For legal advice regarding your specific situation, please consult your attorney.